BAKU – Sergio Perez beat teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen to win the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday and continue Red Bull’s Formula One domination with a double success in Baku.
Helped by a safety car period that fell in his favour after Verstappen had pitted, the Mexican made the most of his good fortune to take a sixth career victory and become the first driver to win the Baku race a second time in six editions.
Perez is now six points behind Verstappen with two wins each after four rounds and another challenge in Miami only a week away.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who started on pole position for the third year in a row in Baku, finished a distant third for his team’s first podium appearance of 2023, with George Russell claiming the fastest lap for Mercedes.
Perez, who also won the Saturday sprint, said: “I think it was very close between us, we pushed to the maximum today, we both clipped the wall a few times.
“The way Max pushed me today was really hard but we managed to keep in control.”
Predictions of chaos and carnage, with the race the first sprint weekend of the season, failed to materialise on an afternoon short of thrills, spills or many overtakes.
“For me, it was the loneliest race ever,” said Leclerc, who made a clean start to lead into the first corner and held off Verstappen until the drag reduction system (DRS) was activated on lap three.
Verstappen then scythed past at the start of the next lap and pulled away, with Perez slotting into second two laps later with equal ease.
Everything changed on lap 11 when Nyck de Vries clipped the wall and broke his AlphaTauri’s front left suspension, leaving the car stranded at turn 16.
The safety car was deployed but Verstappen had already pitted while Perez, who stayed out, effectively gained a free stop when he came in with the field slowed.
“Checo ( Perez) got a little lucky with the safety car there, but it’s a long season and very good points today. Great team result,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told Verstappen at the finish.
“It is what it is. We wouldn’t know the safety car could come out there. Good team result,” replied the world champion.
Fernando Alonso was fourth in his Aston Martin, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished fifth while Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Mercedes.
There were worrying scenes on the final lap with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon pitting for his sole stop and sending mechanics and photographers preparing for the finish scampering out of his way.
Meanwhile, Verstappen said before the race that he was not a fan of F1’s new standalone sprint format. “Just scrap the whole thing,” he said after finishing third in the 100km race, the first of six this season. “It’s not proper racing, it’s more like gambling.” AFP, REUTERS
